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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Favorite Herb Books

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  • From: yarrow@sfo.com
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Favorite Herb Books
  • Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:30:38 -0700

What is your great book? What, specifically, do you need to know? What part of the world are you in?

For medicinal uses, my favorite is Michael Moore's books, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West, the revised edition of ...of the Mountain West, and his older books), particularly if you're on the U.S. west coast and interested in weedy and native plants. He also has a website that has detailed technical information on dosages, preparations, and indications -- a valuable resource for professional herbalists. (Google herbal moore.) Another favorite is Kathi Keville's Herbs for Health and Healing. She's also a pro but has more of a kitchen-garden style. I turn to her book for ideas on what to use or grow, then improvise based on what I have available. The widely available books by James Duke (or his database on the web) are also authoritative sources, but seem more geared to buying a product than to growing your own.

As a quick reference, I like Lesley Bremness, The Complete Book of Herbs, because it's fairly comprehensive but not too big and heavy, has a nice layout, is easy to use, and has proven reliable so far. This is where I turn to see how big something will get, or for ideas on what else to do with the harvest. Steven Foster's Herbal Renaissance is my favorite book on growing herbs. He's also a reliable source on uses of herbs, a good mix of practical information on growing and using and interesting notes on folk uses and the latest research.

The first herb books I had were John Lust's The Herb Book and Maude Grieve's A Modern Herbal (which are also good references). I was puzzled by the long lists of conditions that each herb could cure, and wondered if herbs could do anything at all. I studied botanical medicine with Moore, attended regional herb conferences for several years, and have shelves of books on herbs, and what nearly all the herbalists say is use what you have. Some herbalists say to start with, say, 10 herbs and learn all you can about them, and chances are you will be able to use them for more than 90 percent of your needs. I use my nose to guide me. One herbalist described getting to know an herb by taking a bath in it while drinking the same herb as tea -- spending a day or a week focusing on one herb at a time and paying attention to its effects and qualities.

For dyes, see Rita Buchanan's A Weaver's Garden.

For landscape uses, look for Rob Proctor and David Macke, Herbs in the Garden: The Art of Intermingling.

Some of the herb magazines regularly feature articles on every aspect of herbs. The Herb Companion has tons of recipes and some articles online; Herb Quarterly has only a few online articles.

At 9:12 AM -0400 6/11/07, Sharon Gordon wrote:
I've been reading a great herb book which has some detailed info on the particular herbs. I'd like to learn about more different herbs though and more specifics on using them. Does anyone have recommendations? In addition to growing information, I am interested in cooking uses, medical uses, and other useful functions such as making dyes or ways herbs can be used in the garden.

The PFAF site is helpful in listing more ways plants can be used.




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